New Week, New Baby

Doesn't that look like one proud daddy! Heidi Maisonneuve made her appearance around 1 am on Sunday morning. Congratulations Eric and Janine. She's adorable!

As for me, it was a nice getaway weekend but it's back to work tomorrow. It's a good thing I love my job - and the boss isn't all that bad either, so I can't complain.

R & R Time

I picked a card from a tarot deck.

It said to nurture myself and get some rest and relaxation.

Who am I to argue?

Besides, Kate's comment on my last post was; "You are a workhorse, girl!"

Sometimes you just have to pay attention to stuff like that. Don't you think?

So I hurried up, took care of a few business things and some client paperwork, then I told my honey to grab our toothbrushes and our bathing suits and we jumped in the truck and headed out to Grande Prairie.

We browsed around, did some shopping, went out for supper, then booked a hotel room two doors down from the pool and hottub.

By that time it was already 9 pm and I'm sure it didn't take us more than 2 minutes flat to change into our suits, jump into the water and go, ahhhh.......what a treat!

Who knows, with no Pumpkin to poke, prod and meow in the morning, I might even have a sleep in. Although i doubt I even know what it feels like or how to do that anymore.

It's Done!

I finally got the garden planted tonight. Wanted to make sure to get it in before we get the rain they say we are going to have in the next few days.

Let's see. Two rows of peas, two rows of beans, one row of beets, two rows of carrots, one row of kohlrabi, two rows of onions and 8 plants of potatoes in my little garden patch here.

Next I went to Eric's (Andree's nephew) farmyard about 10 km from home and planted another 45 plants of potatoes. That should do it I'd say.

Oh wait! That's not all. I planted some sun flowers too. Can't wait for those smiley faces to pop out of the ground!

I also got to borrow a pick-up truck and loaded the thing right up to the cab roof with all the broken tree limbs and dead branches that I cut down the night before. Hauled all that down to the burn pile over at the town site here.

Didn't manage to cut the grass though. Ran out of time for that. Maybe tomorrow.

Unfortunately, I was preoccupied with getting the garden in and totally forgot to snap a few pics of the whole process until it was too late so I snapped one of this abundant little flower that adorns everyone's yard at this time of the year.

Guest Blogger

I have a heavy week this week so my daily fitness walks are even more important to me, not only for keeping fit but to clear my head after a full day with clients. It's part of my self-care plan and serves me well. The only dilemma I have is figuring out how to write and walk at the same time. Haven't quite figured that one out yet.

Today;s walk took me over to the Agricultural Grounds where a few people board their horses. There's something about the sight and smell of horses that grounds me and brings me down to earth. It helps me forget about everything and gives me a sense of coming home to myself. I couldn't get a picture of the horses since they were busy getting groomed by their owners but I did snap a few other pics.

By the way. You just might want to wander over to the link below and have a read. It's my friend Kate's blog  A little while back Kate invited me to be one of her guest writers by responding to five specific questions.

Go on - get over there and have a read! You just might decide to pull up a chair and stay awhile.

http://goldengrainfarm.blogspot.ca/2016/05/annette-answers-my-5-things-questionaire.html

This and That - Here and There

It was graduation time for GP Vanier this weekend. Our little CJ, otherwise known as Charles Simoneau Junior (or my step-grandson) was one proud young man when he walked across stage in his graduation gown at the afternoon ceremonies and in his suit at the evening banquet and supper. He had to put in extra work to get his diploma but his perseverance and hard work paid off. He's off to college in September to study film making.

I hope you never ever lose your caring spirit and authenticity CJ. Love this boys hugs!

On Saturday after the grad, there was a family barbecue at the farm. I stuck around for most of it but at one point I snuck out for a 2 mile walk and a play time with the new kittens. There's five of those little critters. It's hard to keep myself from bringing them babes home.

So this kind of weird looking plant hangs in my new office. Does anyone know what it's called?

It makes these gorgeous flowers that give off a soft perfume kind of smell I can't quite identify but it's quite inviting.

I was part monkey tonight going up and down a 15 foot ladder in order to get high up into the trees to cut a whole bunch of dead and broken branches - most of which got damaged in our May winter storm. At one point my brother came to lend a hand. He went up to cut one of the larger limbs and I went on top the roof to guide it so it wouldn't come crashing down and damage the roof. Now I need to head for the shower and wash all the saw dust out of my hair.

By the time I finished all that it was 9 pm and for the first time in a long time the sun was still shinning and the wind had come to a standstill. I hauled my bike out of the shed and took it for a half hour spin around town. 

Whoa! I sure did miss that baby. Now I need to get my butt toughened up to go on a 2 or 3 day bike ride, destination yet to be determined.

Meet Oscar

My walking partner for the evening.

I kind of like that having a walking partner. Wish I had one all the time. I might have to pin an ad at the post office.

"Old lady looking for a furry walking partner to join her in her impromptu walks around town, on country roads, or along the canal. Needs to be well behaved and ready to walk anywhere from 1 to 5 miles whenever my time allows which ends up being all kinds of irregular hours. If you and  your four legged agree - call me."

Here he is catching a snow ball in mid air.

Gulp! That was cold!

Yes, it's a snowball out of my back yard. Leftovers from the May long weekend winter storm that came marching through on Thursday and Friday. Should be all gone by tomorrow. I hope!

Bathroom Books

These two books are certainly not meant to be bathroom books but it seems to be the only time I can sneak in a few pages lately. What I want to do is lean against an old oak tree with the heat of the sun warming my body and dive into both so I can finish them in one whole sweep.

Both are extremely well written books and a very enjoyable read which makes me want to hide out in the bathroom just so I can devour a few more pages every spare minute I have.

One book takes place between 1937 and 1939 in the wild North of British Columbia. The other, which has been called a wickedly funny account of the author's journey, that starts off in Canada and ends in Spain somewhere around 2005 or so.

Excuse me for a minute - I have to go...........

Where Does the Time Go?

What? It's been 5  days since I showed up here? Really?

I don't know. The closer I get to retirement age, whatever that is, the busier life gets. I'm not sure what that's about. All I know is one day seems to blend into another and the first thing I know another week and pretty soon another month has gone by in the blink of an eye.

Am I the only one that feels like that or are there others out there?

Today, Sunday, was a different kind of day. An enjoyable short get away, kind of experience shared with good friends in a shopping trip to Grande Prairie and an KFC picnic supper in Muskoseepi Park.

That was a nice treat I thoroughly enjoyed.

The beginning of the week right up to Sunday was jammed packed full. Busy at the office. Plus it's been a busy week at home with a few home reno's happening and all the shifting, sorting, rearranging, and purging that happens when a person starts making changes.How does a person accumulate so much stuff? We've only been here for 2 years.

When I'm at work if I have  some time between clients, I don't tell the boss, and I sneak over to the back of my building and take a walk on the pathway along the river's edge.

"Ahhh....the Mighty Peace," as Georgette used to say.

Makes it hard to go back to the office sometimes.

Damn!

I had my previous cell phone for, what? Maybe two years or more, maybe even three. I suck big time when it comes to remembering dates, years, time frames.

The point is, I had my iPhone for a long time and when I decided to switch to a newer iPhone my old one still looked new.

Perfect shape, not a scratch on it. In fact it fetched a fair price when I put it up for sale on Facebook.

Back in December (at least I remember the month), I got a new bigger iPhone. Five months later, this is what it looks like.

The response I got from my step-daughter was something like, "Well, there you go, Welcome to the real world of being an iPhone user. You finally made it, graduated and you're now one of us!"

Not her exact words but gave me a good chuckle that's for sure.

You gotta laugh about those kind of things especially when you know it's your own damn fault for not having a case on this expensive little piece of equipment. I mean really. Who does that?

But you want to know something?

My partner got a new iPhone at the same time as me. Want to know something else?

I think it was something like two weeks after our purchase date that she dropped hers and smashed her screen to smithereens. Too bad I didn't think of taking a pic of hers. It was a winner as far as broken screens go.

Even funnier is that in both cases it happened when we were on a trip to Grande Prairie.

Moral of the story? There is none, except to say that shit happens and life goes on! That's just the way it is sometimes. There's bigger things in life to worry about.

But oh, the pain of switching to another phone and getting everything set up like a person is used to - that's a royal pain in the you know what.

Frustrating Saturday - Good Sunday

“Before fixing what you’re looking at, check what you’re looking through.”

“Got a dirty eye, see a dirty world.”

“And so often, we suffer the mood of a dirty window, believing the brilliant world gray.”

 Mark Nepo

The above quotes was the beginning of my day on Saturday. 

I got off to a bad start. I had a dirty eye and I was seeing a dirty world. I had a big day planned, wanted to get lots done on my Saturday off and I was annoyed at having to deal with my busted iPhone. I got frustrated trying to figure out how to save the information on my phone onto my computer.

I was also frustrated with trying to save the audio of the course I’m taking onto iTunes and running into trouble with that as well. I could see my precious time slipping by. My frustration at my lack of knowledge about technology was mounting and my eye was getting dirtier by the minute.  

I decided to make a tip to town to see about getting a new phone. I knew that if they didn’t have the phone I needed at the Source they would have to order one but if they did have it, it would take a good chunk of time to get all my information transferred over to the new phone and all the settings back to where I want them.

The other thing nagging at me was that I wanted to cut the lawn and till the garden but didn’t have a mower or a tiller to work with. Since I was taking care of the neighbor's yard last year, I was using their equipment to do my yard but I’m not looking after their place this year so it leaves me with no equipment to do my own work. This too annoyed and frustrated me and got me increasingly pissed off made evident by the few choice words that spilled out of my mouth.

I decided to make a second trip to town to see about the possibility of renting a mower and a tiller. 

To make a long story short, I was told I couldn't rent either one but ended up finding a second hand mower from the guy who worked at the rental shop and buying a small electric tiller from the store next door.

So there, now the lawn would get cut and the garden would get tilled but only after I finished the inside project which was to prep one of our bedrooms so it would be ready to paint this coming week. This had to be top priority on my "to-do" list. 

I returned home and got down to business of filling in cracks and holes, sanding and washing the walls but every few minutes I'd glance out the window and the sun was shinning and the mercury was rising on the thermometer and I was stuck inside and frustration and resentment were building inside me.

What I really wanted, I realized, was to be doing some work outside and later to sit in the sun and listen to the audios from the course I’m taking and do some writing.

So that’s what was going on! That was the real issue. Not the work I had to do but the fact that I don’t’ (or didn’t) have what I needed to work with. The fact that I wanted to be doing things outside and the fact that I wanted to work on my course and do some writing. 

Once I realized the real source of my frustration, I was able to look through different colored glasses.

I started by changing my thoughts from “I have to” to “I choose to.”

Then I turned my not so nice “choice” words to; “Change your attitude. Quit looking at what you can’t do and look at what you can do. Know that in the end you are making the choices. No one is making you do these things and what you're doing is bringing negative energy onto yourself. It’s time to switch gears.”And I did. 

And in the end it was a great day. I worked hard but I got lots done. Once I started the clean up after all the sanding I figured I might as well keep going and clean the whole house so I could relax for Mother's Day.

With a shift in attitude, it felt good to get things out of the way and today I was able to concentrate on doing what I love doing. 

No agenda. No time frame. No have to’s.

That, along with the words "I love you” from my 3 daughters, made for a wonderful Mother’s Day.

I Have To Confess

Ok. Here's the scoop.

I've never said this publicly. In fact never admitted it to anyone. Not even my partner. Although I'm sure she knows and some family members know. Maybe even some friends know.

But no one has ever said so to my face. Never brought it up. Never outright asked me. So before anyone does, I might as well fess up.

I have a pen fetish. This is a pic of my most recent acquisition that I can't function without. The Cross Slim Gel Pen. What a beauty she is!

We have a working relationship her and I. She helps me with client notes, reports, receipts, cheques and writing cards.

But, oh, when work is done and I can find some spare time here and there, the two of us get together and, oh, la, la! I wrap my fingers around her slim little body and t's like fire in my belly. I enter another world. I forget about everything and I lose track of time.

She comes in many colors and I'm fortunate to have with me at all times the silver and aqua colored one but how I wish I could collect them all. I mean there's the blue one I posted above, a white one, a black, an orange, a pink. I could almost have a different colored pen for every different mood I happen to be in or for each day of the week. Just imagine..........

Animal World

Oh my goodness. What I would give to spend the day next to those two. My daughter, lucky her, got to spend a bit of time with them but not as long as she would have liked to. There were a lot of other people waiting for the chance to see and admire them too.

I just love monkeys and gorillas. Something about them just fascinates me. Maybe it's because humans and gorillas bear such a close resemblance to each other or maybe my affinity to them is because I was a gorilla in one of my previous lives.

How precious this mother daughter love or is it mother son love? I don't know. Doesn't matter. They're both adorable.

It's worth going to Calgary just to go see them but, once there, I don't know how I'd ever be able to pull away.

Now look at this flock of swans swimming around at Winagami Lake. Aren't they the most beautiful, most graceful creatures you've ever seen? I'm not sure why but they represent peace for me. They are graceful and peaceful and speak to me of gentle kindness.

They fill me with tranquility.

The daily visit of Mr. Robin

Marcel's favorite Red Wing Blackbird

And Mr. Woody Woodpecker himself!

I feel like I've been surrounded by nature with all the photos that were shared with me. Plus on my morning walk I met up a deer then on my evening walk the sunset brought it all together for me. It helped me take a deep breathe and let go of some of the tiredness I felt from my busy day.

There's a lot of gratitude for the gifts that came my way, plus the clients I saw and the opportunity to work out of my new office today.

Bird photos courtesy of Marcel T,

Remarkable Birthday

What else could one call it when a friend turns 90!

Edith's official birthday is on May 4th but a Sunday celebration made it easier for everyone and what an awesome celebration it was.

It started off with a delicious home cooked supper followed by a gift opening. Then we topped it off with a huge slice of ice cream cake from Dairy Queen!

Thanks to modern technology we were able to share a lot of the celebrations with her family in Quebec via Skype. It was a fun time had by all.

A special gift of art from a dear niece Josee

Skype gift opening with her niece and 94 year old sister in Quebec.

I wonder what could be hiding under the blanket?

A place to journal in the morning sun and to eat lunch outside. 

I hope I get to live that long, maintain such a positive attitude and be so full of life.

We better put our thinking caps on to figure out how to celebrate her upcoming 100th birthday.